My latest nick. Could be worse I guess…

Bear Idioms and Expressions

BEAR
as gruff as a bear
Gruff.
Source: Bertram, Anne (Bowl of Cherries)

slick as bear grease
smooth and slick
Source: Bertram, Anne (Pig’s Eye)

like a bear with a sore head
Very disgruntled.
Source: Funk, Charles

bear down
try harder
Source: Wayne Magnuson

bear the brunt
accept the most blame or responsibility
Source: Wayne Magnuson

cranky as bear with a sore paw
Source: Dianna Ly

loaded for bear
To be prepared for any possibility. Originally this phrase had a hunting significance dating back to possibly a time when the west was wild and woolly. Modern slang has introduced a new meaning into the phrase — to be well loaded; drunk.
Source: Funk, Charles

“Bears are notoriously difficult to kill. Wounded grizzlies will sometime pursue those who hunt them. I have always understood ‘loaded for bear’ to mean that one is equipping (or over-equipping) oneself for an extraordinary hunt.”
Source: Ashton Armistead

“In the days of the old muzzle loading rifles or shotguns, every load was unique, and suited to the occasion, if desired. You could use a small load of powder for squirrel, or more for larger animals. The bear, apparently particularly hard to kill and dangerous when wounded, called for a large load of powder and shot. Hence, the term ‘loaded for bear’ means ‘maxed out’, or prepared for the greatest challenge. When you were loaded for bear, and did shoot, the kick of the gun was a real kick, too.”
Source: Dog Hause Visitor Danapun

have a bear by the tail
to have a very difficult problem to solve
Source: Bertram, Anne (Pig’s Eye)

hungry as a bear
very hungry
Source: Bertram, Anne (Pig’s Eye)

I used to drink this shit, and even gave it to my kid. I should be arrested for child abuse.

My family was a ‘Coke’ family, as opposed to some of my friends, who only had ‘Pepsi’ on offer at their house. Seriously though, this is some nasty shit.

Effect of Coca Cola On Your Body

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

20 minutes: First effect of coca cola on your body. Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (Theres plenty of that at this particular moment)

40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.

Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This effect of coca cola is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

The effect of coca cola caffeine diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.

>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

After the Rush

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.

Info courtesy of

What a ride. I tried to push it as hard as I could. As a consequence I was out front alone a lot. The boys did great job keeping up, with Dave displaying his characteristic tenacity to never really let me get away. I tried.

What is the best weight for a bicycle racer? I guess as low as possible. The one-baller website claims that a cyclist should have 6-8% body fat.

I love this one from Bike Gaydar:

18% or more: With your clothes on, you look overweight.

16-18%: You look like you hold no excess weight when fully clothed.

15%: Starting to look good naked.

13%: You won’t be compromising performance due to excess body fat.

10%: Somebody’s resembling the Michelangelo statue…

5-8%: Ripped to bits; the optimal level at which all top level, in-form male endurance athletes perform.

I guess I’m between 10 and 13% right now. For climbing race weight I’ll target 73kg, which will put me 10+ kg less than last year.

Got out with the Audax boys for their first ride of the season. Audax pace is a bit relaxed, and since I did a relaxed super-long one last week I wanted to up the pace a bit for this one. Because of that I rode 185k solo, but not before putting in a few k’s with the crew.

I did stop at the usual places though and the Long Distance boys were never far behind. We usually caught each other at the gas station or coconut stops.

At these stops this is generally what you see happening.

And more of the same.

Audax is not only for the boys. There are also some hard as nails chix out there that will ride you into the ground. Here’s one.

And the resident joker – Dan Smith – he’s so excited to start riding again he had to strike a Saturday Night Fever pose. And that’s our dear leader with the banana.

A great group to ride with – but it’s time for me to go on my way.

Wanted to end the year on a high note, so decided to finally do that solo Audax 300 loop I’ve been thinking about. With a non-cyclist wife and small child the time away was the main obstacle. Thankfully, got permission from the wife for a long ride so I prepared my kit and some food, checked the bike, then hit the sack early. I woke up at 2:00am for a 3:00am start.

So I hit the road. As always, once I started pedaling I thought,

“Hmmm… I could just do a loop around the island.”

And the closer to the border I got,

“Do I really want to do this?”

But the thought of doing some crazy shit like this and the reaction I would get was just too juicy to pass up. I knew I wanted to break that damn Rapha Festive 500, so there was a goal in mind too. Because of that I knew that an Audax 300 loop alone would not be enough so I headed out around Kranji for some extra k’s. I contemplated a reverse Changi, but thought I could get enough with a Kranji and maybe one home too.

Once I got close to the border I got chills on the spine, I knew then there was no turning back. I went over to Jahore around 4:15am and just plowed out to Danga Bay and then up to Kluang.

First stop destination was the gas station in Bukit Botok before the Loyang turn. This is the traditional first Audax stop. The station has been renovated so the bathroom is tolerable. Traffic was meager on the way there, but some sections of the road were absolutely pitch black. Thanks to my Ayup’s for getting me through. It really was blackest before the dawn. In some parts I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Ok. 100k done.

So how do I look?

Now time to eat! First stop breakfast on the curb consisted of rice cake, Tongkat Ali coffee and Wrigley’s gum for dessert:

The highlight of this meal was the Alan Lim rice cake. This is damn good home cooked food that really gave me a boost. I’ll be having one of these on every long ride from now on. Here’s before:

And after licking that baby clean:

I didn’t dilly dally. No reason to sit on the ground at a gas station longer then necessary. Only 51k until Kluang!

Dawn was breaking now so the ride through Loyang Loyang promised to see the sun rise. I wasn’t disappointed.

Traffic was very accommodating. I nearly always received a wide berth with some waves and shouts of encouragement. As well as some amazed faces from the motorbike riders. The road was smooth for the most part and the views were amazing. It was still morning so it was cool – perfect riding weather!

After reaching Kluang around 8:30am I headed over to the traditional Audax prata stop for a Masala Dosa. Yummy!

After eating I was feeling pretty good. I stretched out and then hit the road for the beautiful resort city of Kota Tinggi.

After Kluang the sun came out to play and it started to heat up. There were occasional sections where the clouds would give some respite but I was mostly cooking out there. That said, the trip between Kluang and Kota Tinggi is about 90k with some amazing views. It was still morning so the heat wasn’t so bad and I could really enjoy the scenery.

But you can still see me cooking as I’m gazing at the view.

Before the turn onto 94 towards Kota Tinggi I made a pit stop at a gas station to get some water.

There you go. Almost 200k done.

Back on the road to some more amazing views.

Reaching Kota Tingi I made the obligatory stop at what used to be our prata stand. Now it’s a Malay dishes stall – I had rice and chicken – and an ice coffee!

I stayed in Kota Tinggi for about 30 minutes, washed up and re-charged the Garmin while I ate and got myself in general order. The next push would suck as its all rollers and hills. Save the best for last!

After knocking out the Highway 94 Rollers and the Kulai Hills I made one last stop at a gas station before the border. I couldn’t resist the Popsicle. It was freakin’ hot!

I was super happy to be leaving Malaysia. I was headed back to Singapore and it was only 3:00PM!

And 301k done! Only 59k to go to finish the Rapha Festive 500!

And done.

Once I got into Singapore it was obvious I couldn’t ride straight home. Even with 320k in my legs. I then headed to Kranji and noodled around the flower plantations to pick up a few more k’s. By now I was totally wired – probably could have done 400+ k’s without a problem. BUT – I couldn’t just arrive home and die! I had to go to a New Year’s Eve party!

I think the look on my face says it all. And here is the machine that got the job done. Beautiful.

I did eat a huge plate of pasta immediately upon arriving home. I had it pre-prepared for my recovery. Then it was just a shower – no nap! And New Year’s Eve was great!

I ‘partied’ with family and my three year old daughter until about 1:30am – and then into bed I went! Habits die hard though – I was up again at 6am.

So when do we do it again?

I’ve got the flu and I’m on antibiotics. I hate being sick. Day 2 on the big white pills. Body feels pummeled. Dreaming of training, unfortunately that will remain a dream for now. Better tomorrow?

Merry Christmas Everybody! This was our family Christmas Eve. The food was good, the company was better.

Riding around the island of Singapore has become a ritual of pain and suffering. How much pain is determined by your riding companions.

Today, Christmas Eve, the RTI was hard for me, I think particularly because I had a long training week, with two hard rides and two vigorous trainer sessions leading up to today. Nevertheless, it was a great ride, complemented by the perfect riding partners – of whom I’m certain will have some extra space for Christmas goodies after that shagging this morning.

I’ll update this post soon with a review of my new bike. Until then you can read about it here.